News clippings

New budget chief has wide intellectual range, bloggy instinct

Murry — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:27:49 EST

Orszag favors cool head, warm heart

LINK | Sasha Issenberg, Globe Staff | November 26, 2008

WASHINGTON - Harvard Medical School invited Peter Orszag, then director of the Congressional Budget Office, to give its prestigious annual Seidman lecture in October because it wanted a speaker who would be influential on medical policy. As head of the agency offering fiscal expertise to the House and Senate, Orszag was primed to play a crucial role in determining the price of any new healthcare legislation.

When Orszag's PowerPoint slides began snapping, faculty members were surprised to see that he had far more to offer than a look at the federal ledger sheets. Offering suggestions on how to cut healthcare costs, Orszag presented bar graphs measuring the relative placebo effects of antidepressants and showing how a Michigan hospital's introduction of a five-step checklist for doctors catheterizing patients reduced rates of infection.

"The thing that I was impressed with is how he is able to pick up clinical medicine for someone who is an economist and not a doctor," said Barbara McNeil, a radiologist who heads the medical school's Department of Health Care Policy, which organized the lecture. "For someone who had as wide a portfolio as he had at CBO to have that understanding of health is unusual."

Orszag, who was named yesterday to run the Obama administration's Office of Management and Budget, has a wide intellectual range and a bloggy instinct - relentlessly curious, allusive, drawn to unlikely connections - rare within the green-eyeshade set. A year ago, he launched his own blog, the first on his agency's website, that has touched on everything from avian flu vaccines to the Navy's shipbuilding program.

The Audacity of Patience

Murry — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:50:46 EST

Obama's savvy coalition-building broke all the rules about how to run for president. If he can take the same approach in the White House, he will be a towering success.

LINK | MARK SCHMITT | The American Prospect | November 17, 2008

A single tactical choice early in Barack Obama's quest for the presidency set the course for all the events that followed -- Obama's securing of the Democratic nomination and surprisingly smooth path to resounding victory in the general election. After Sen. Hillary Clinton defeated him in the New Hampshire primary, rather than pouring resources into the very next primary states, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe looked weeks into the future. He deployed staff to states that wouldn't vote for another month and implemented a long, patient strategy of assembling a majority of delegates, one at a time, in friendly and unfriendly states alike.
The move broke all the rules for an insurgent candidate, which is what Obama was at the time. There is a tried-and-true strategy for insurgents -- what President George H.W. Bush in 1980 called "Big Mo" -- momentum. Only a wave of victories in early states can overcome the superior nationwide organization of an establishment candidate like Clinton, the theory goes. Insurgents can't waste time thinking about the months ahead. Momentum is a rapidly depleted resource.
Plouffe's choice was not the last time that the Obama campaign would gamble on patience and the long view, despite admonitions from those with more experience that he was blowing the moment. Only six weeks before Election Day, William Galston, a political theorist and Democratic campaign brain since the 1970s, led a chorus of public criticism, warning Obama, "You are in danger of squandering an election most of us thought was unlosable," as John McCain seemed to "win the news cycle" on too many days. Then the financial crisis broke, and while McCain was frantically trying to seize the role of bipartisan broker on an issue he knew nothing about, it was Obama's calm clarity that lured a wave of moderates, independents, centrists, and prominent Republicans into the ever-widening circle of his coalition.
Obama will need a full reservoir of that same patience in the White House, because he'll face similar frantic pressure and second-guessing. He will be surrounded by a crippling crowd of people and groups convinced that if their own No. 1 cause isn't enacted in the first 100 days, it will never happen. The conventional wisdom about the presidency is very much the same as the advice Obama was given in the primaries: Move quickly. Overwhelm the forces of the establishment. Use the momentum of the election to achieve the biggest things possible. You'll never be more powerful than on Jan. 21.
If Obama ignores this conventional wisdom, he will not do so because he's crazy or lazy but because he's taking the same approach to governing as he took to the election. It will mean he's taking the long view, gambling on patience, and carefully putting into place the pieces that win lasting majorities for progressive policies, just as he won a majority of delegates and a majority of votes in the election.

Obama assigns centrists to make radical economic moves

Murry — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:26:35 EST

The team led by Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geithner and Christina Romer will have to strike a balance between extraordinary government intervention and the nation's commitment to free markets.

LINK | Peter G. Gosselin | LA Times | November 25, 2008

Reporting from Washington — The economic team that President-elect Barack Obama unveiled Monday, led by Lawrence Summers, Timothy F. Geithner and Christina D. Romer, comprises widely respected, centrist economists who until recently advocated cautious, sensible-shoe policies to do such things as boost savings, reduce deficits and allow markets maximum feasible rein.

But the assignment that Obama has given them is anything but cautious and sensible-shoe.

It is to make Washington the consumer of last resort in an economy in which consumption is plunging. It is to devise industrial-policy-like programs to salvage a collapsing auto industry and turn green an energy industry almost wholly focused on fossil fuels. It is to dip more deeply into the lives of ordinary Americans -- especially those with housing troubles -- than the government has done in generations.

But so much has gone so wrong during the last 15 months that what would have been beyond the political pale as recently as a few years ago is quickly becoming the consensus.

"These are not moderate, centrist times, so economists who in normal times are moderate and centrist aren't going to act that way now," said J. Bradford DeLong, a UC Berkeley economic historian and prolific economic blogger. "The wild-eyed radicals are looking pretty sensible."

Obama's Brain Trust

Murry — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:21:51 EST

LINK | E. J. Dionne Jr.| Washington Post Op-ed | Tuesday, November 25, 2008; Page A15

President-elect Barack Obama has now made three things clear about his plans to bring the economy back: He wants his actions to be big and bold. He sees economic recovery as intimately linked with economic and social reform. And he is bringing in a gifted brain trust to get the job done.

Just three weeks after Election Day, Obama has already expanded his authority by seizing on "an economic crisis of historic proportions," as he described it yesterday, to call for a stimulus package that will dwarf anything ever attempted by the federal government.

But Obama is also using the crisis to make the case for larger structural reforms in health care, energy and education -- "to lay the groundwork for long-term, sustained economic growth," as he put it. Obama clearly views the economic downturn not as an impediment to the broadly progressive program he outlined during the campaign but as an opportunity for a round of unprecedented social legislation.

Obama to Tap Berkeley Prof to Chair Council of Economic Advisers

Murry — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:10:37 EST

LINK | Jake Tapper | ABC | Nov. 24

ABC News has learned that President-elect Obama had tappedUniversity of California--Berkeley economics professor Christina Romer to be the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, an office within the Executive Office of the President.

Romer, a widely respected economist with an expertise on the U.S. economy, will be one of the key economic advisers whom Mr. Obama will introduce to the nation this morning, along with New York Federal Reserve president Timothy Geithner, tapped to be Obama's nominee for Secretary of the Treasury, and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who will serve as the director of the National Economic Council.

Romer and her husband David, also an economist at Berkeley, are members of the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research, which decides when a recession has officially started or ended.

One highly relevant area of their expertise -- how tax cuts can help stimulate economic growth.

The Council of Economic Advisers is charged with analyzing and interpreting economic developments, appraising programs and activities of the Government, and formulating and recommending national economic policy to promote employment, production, and purchasing power.

Previous chairs of the Council of Economic Advisers include Ben Bernanke, Greg Mankiw, Laura D'Andrea Tyson, and Alan Greenspan.

Official: Richardson to be commerce secretary

Murry — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:53:21 EST

By BETH FOUHY | Associated Press Writer | Nov. 24

NEW YORK (AP) -- President-elect Barack Obama has chosen New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to be commerce secretary, adding a prominent Hispanic and one-time Democratic rival to his expanding Cabinet.

Obama planned to announce the nomination after Thanksgiving, according to a Democratic official familiar with the discussions. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the negotiations and did so on condition of anonymity.

Richardson, 61, had a distinguished and visible career in Washington before returning to New Mexico, where he was elected governor in 2002. Richardson served as U.N. ambassador under President Bill Clinton and later as energy secretary. He was in the House from 1983 to 1997.

President 2.0

Murry — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:49:47 EST

Obama harnessed the grass-roots power of the Web to get elected. How will he use that power now?

LINK | Daniel Lyons and Daniel Stone | NEWSWEEK | From the magazine issue dated Dec 1, 2008

Barack Obama is the first major politician who really "gets" the Internet. Sure, Howard Dean used the Web to raise money. But Obama used it to build an army. And now, that army of digital kids expects to stick around and help him govern. Crowd-sourced online brainstorming sessions? Web sites where regular folks hash out policy ideas and vote yea or nay online? A new government computer infrastructure that lets people get a look into the workings of Washington, including where the money flows and how decisions get made? Yes to all those and more. "This was not just an election—this was a social movement," says Don Tapscott, author of "Grown Up Digital," which chronicles the lives of 20-somethings raised on computers and the Web. "I'm convinced," Tapscott says, "that we're in the early days of fundamental change in the nature of democracy itself."

Call it Government 2.0. Instead of a one-way system in which government hands down laws and provides services to citizens, why not use the Internet to let citizens, corporations and civil organizations work together with elected officials to develop solutions? That kind of open-source collaboration is second nature to the Net-gen kids who supported Obama and to technologists from Silicon Valley who are advising him. "An open system means more voices; more voices mean more discussion, which leads to a better decision," Google CEO and Obama adviser Eric Schmidt told a roomful of policy thinkers in Washington last week, gathered for a discussion on the role technology will play in government. "A community will always make a better decision than an individual."

Letter? I Never Got Any Letter, Herbert.

Murry — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:24:40 EST

Before his Inaugural, FDR craftily dodged attempts to saddle him with Hoover's crisis. What Obama can learn.

LINK | Jonathan Alter | NEWSWEEK | From the magazine issue dated Dec 1, 2008

Americans are scared and eager for change. They elect the Democratic presidential candidate by a healthy margin, in part because they prefer his temperament. But the outcome is, to most, largely a rejection of the brutal status quo. Every day brings more depressing economic news, with banks teetering and foreclosures skyrocketing. During the transition, the outgoing president tries to rope the new man into the crisis—but the president-elect keeps his distance. The country has only one president at a time, he says, telling aides that he doesn't want responsibility without authority.

Abraham Lincoln is Barack Obama's favorite president, but it's no wonder he's reading up on Franklin D. Roosevelt. The similarities between 1932–33 and 2008–09 are eerie. And the basic questions during the transition are the same today as they were 76 years ago: How low will the economy sink? Is it better for the incoming president to pitch in with the outgoing administration to forestall disaster—or hang loose? What's the best way to plan for the early weeks after the Inauguration?

Rice Likely to UN for Obama (Susan, Not Condi)

Murry — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:17:54 EST

LINK

Jake Tapper | ABC | Nov. 24

ABC News has learned that Dr. Susan Rice has emerged as the leading candidate to be President-elect Obama's nominee as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Neither Dr. Rice nor the Obama Transition Team had any comment. The usual caveats apply -- nothing is yet a done deal, nothing has been officially offered or accepted, national security team announcements will not come until after Thanksgiving.

Dr. Rice, a member of President Bill Clinton's National Security Council and a former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, was involved in President-elect Obama's campaign as a senior foreign policy adviser.

The former Rhodes Scholar in 2000 received the National Security Council's Samuel Nelson Drew Memorial Award for distinguished contributions to the formation of peaceful, cooperative relationships between nations, and U.S. security policy for global peace.

Melody Barnes to Run Domestic Policy Council

Murry — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:54:43 EST

LINK | Mathew Yglesias | Think Progress | Nov. 24

My ThinkProgress colleagues are reporting that Melody Barnes, who was at CAP before I got on board, will head the Domestic Policy Council in the Obama White House. The DPC is in charge of interagency coordination and policy formation for such topics as education, immigration, criminal justice, and health care — in short, domestic policy. This hasn’t been a very high-profile role under the Bush administration since Bush doesn’t really believe in domestic policy aside from tax cuts, but for an administration that’s trying to play a constructive role in American life it’s a very important job. Here’s some YouTube: VIDEO

Barnes has some of the liberal credentials that people have seen lacking in some other Obama appointments. She served as Chief Counsel to Ted Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1995 to 2003, was CAP’s Executive Vice President for Policy, and then left to join Obama’s campaign as policy director.

Friend of The Obamas To Be Social Secretary

Murry — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:46:57 EST

Naming of Rogers Will Raise Profile of White House Post

LINK | Lois Romano | Washington Post Staff Writer | Monday, November 24, 2008; C01

Desirée Rogers, a prominent Chicago businesswoman and Harvard MBA, will be named the first African American White House social secretary, sources in the presidential transition office said yesterday.

Rogers, 49, is a friend of Michelle and President-elect Barack Obama's, and a leader in Chicago corporate and civic circles; her appointment signals that the first couple consider the job crucial to how they introduce themselves to the country and the globe. She was a major fundraiser for Obama.

"This appointment sends a strong message that the Obamas want to use the White House strategically, to maximize its use in a way that is consistent with their philosophy -- [to] open it to a broader range of people, " said Valerie Jarrett, an Obama intimate and friend of Rogers's who also will work in the White House. "Desirée is a heavy hitter -- she comes with her own range of contacts from around the country. She's close to Michelle and she knows everyone who will be working in the West Wing, so she will be able to create a synergy."

Obama Faces Fierce Fight to Keep Education Promises

Murry — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:42:40 EST

LINK | Maria Glod | Washington Post Staff Writer | Monday, November 24, 2008; A02

President-elect Barack Obama has made big promises to educators, parents and the nation's nearly 50 million public school students. He vowed to recruit an "army of new teachers," create better tests and give public schools more funding. He also said he would make college more affordable.

As the new administration prepares to take over the Education Department, school experts say one of Obama's first -- and toughest -- jobs must be restoring the broad bipartisan support it took to pass the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act, which aims to boost the achievement of poor children. That consensus has splintered, with people on both sides of the aisle souring on the law as it is overdue for reauthorization in Congress.

"Forget the details of No Child Left Behind. The big challenge there is having to rebuild that bipartisan coalition," said Gary Huggins, director of the Commission on No Child Left Behind, an independent effort of the Aspen Institute. "On the Democratic side you have people walking away from it because of union pushback. On the GOP side you have people walking away because this is too large a federal footprint."

Helping ensure college access is likely to be the next president's most pressing education priority. The financial downturn has raised concerns about the continuing availability of student loans. On Thursday, the Education Department announced plans to expand purchases of the loans it backs, the most recent of several steps to help avert a student loan crisis.

"The most immediate issue is just the question of stability within the student loan programs," said Alexa Marrero, spokeswoman for Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (Calif.), ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee. "If we realize there's a problem, it will be too late."

But it is Obama's vision of refining the federal role in America's classrooms that may be the biggest political and policy challenge. He inherits an agency -- and a law -- that is seen by some local schools and union leaders as focusing more on sanctions and policing than on helping build better schools.

Meet Mr Geithner

Murry — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:29:09 EST

LINK | Economist.com | WASHINGTON, DC | Nov. 24

SPEAKING of The Economist, our official assessment of Barack Obama's Treasury secretary nominee, New York Fed president Timothy Geithner, is up:

Assuming he is nominated Mr Geithner brings two crucial qualities. First, he represents continuity. From the first days of the crisis last year, he has worked hand in glove with Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, and Mr Paulson. He can continue to do so while awaiting confirmation. If Citigroup, for example, needs federal help, Mr Geithner will be involved. An unknown when he joined the New York Fed in 2003, he is now a familiar face to the most senior executives on Wall Street and to central bankers and finance ministers overseas.
Second, he represents competence. He has spent more time on financial crises, from Mexico and Thailand to Brazil and Argentina, than probably any other policymaker in office today. Mr Geithner understands better than almost anyone that in crises you throw out the forecast and focus on avoiding low probability events with catastrophic consequences. Such judgments are excruciating: do too little, and you undermine confidence and generate a bigger crisis that needs even bigger policy action. Do too much, and you look panicked and invite blowback from Wall Street, Congress and the press. At times during the crisis Mr Geithner would counsel Mr Bernanke on the importance of the right “ratio of drama to effectiveness”.

Ah, glorious, glorious competence. How we've missed you.

Obama Books Dominate Political Best Seller List

Murry — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:35:40 EST

LINK | ORVILLE BUDDO | NY Times | nov. 22

Barack Obama’s presidential victory permeates this month’s list of best-selling political books, with both of his own works returning to the top and several by others landing among the 15 most popular.

President-elect Obama’s “Audacity Of Hope,” a former mainstay since the inception of the Caucus’s Poli-Book list, returns at No. 1, and his earlier memoir, “Dreams From My Father,” lands at No. 2.

An overwhelming focus continues on the 44th president-elect in pictorials and essays: “The American Journey Of Barack Obama” by the editors of Life magazine is No. 4; “The Rise Of Barack Obama” by Pete Souza is No. 8; “Obama” by Deborah Willis and Kevin Merida is No. 15. And “Michelle” by Liza Mundy falls at No. 13, as the first book on First Lady Michelle Obama to grace the list.

Also new this month is “American Lion” by Jon Meacham at No. 6. The controversial seventh president, founder of the Democratic Party, Andrew Jackson, made a radical stir in the political hierarchy, with lasting effects to date, by shifting from government concerns to giving more power to ordinary citizens.... LINK

Obama clan in Kenya enjoys reflected glory

Murry — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:20:44 EST

LINK | Edmund Sanders | LA Times | November 22, 2008

Reporting from Nyangoma-Kogelo, Kenya — For about 400 people in western Kenya who can call the next U.S. president "part of the family," the business of being an Obama has a whole new meaning.

The modest family compound here has been inundated by hordes of visitors, varying from reporters and local politicians to ordinary Kenyans looking for help in getting U.S. visas, scholarships, jobs or cash. Family matriarch Sarah Onyango, step-grandmother of President-elect Barack Obama, is treated like a rock star wherever she goes.

The Kenyan government, which once ostracized Obama's father, is falling over itself to attend to the family. There's a new road, 24-hour police security and an electricity line -- the first in the village. It was installed hours after the U.S. election results were announced, bypassing neighbors who have been waiting years for a connection.

"Dealing with all this," Said Obama, the president-elect's uncle, said with a sigh, "it's been like a full-time job."

For Treasury, Geithner Said to Be Choice

Murry — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 01:06:40 EST

LINK | JACKIE CALMES| NY TIMES | Published: November 21, 2008

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama will name Timothy F. Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, to be his Treasury secretary, moving to fill a key post at a moment when the quavering financial markets are looking for reassurance about the direction of economic policy, people briefed about the decision said Friday.

In picking Mr. Geithner, who has been at the center of efforts to contain thefinancial crisis, Mr. Obama passed over Lawrence H. Summers, who was Treasury secretary in the final year and a half of the Clinton administration. The president-elect might name Mr. Summers, a highly regarded economist and a former president of Harvard University, as a senior White House adviser, people involved in the transition said.

Word of Mr. Geithner’s selection helped drive stocks sharply higher on Friday afternoon as investors concluded that Mr. Obama was taking steps to fill a leadership vacuum at a time when the economy and financial markets are showing new signs of strain. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 494 points, a 6.5 percent gain after days of dizzying declines.

The “O” in Obama

Murry — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:29:03 EST

***Meet the designer of the "O" logo.***

LINK | STEVEN HELLER | NY Times | Nov. 20

At the end of 2006, Mode, a motion design studio in Chicago, approached Sol Sender, a graphic designer, to create a logo for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. The resulting “O” became one of the most recognizable political logos in recent history. I spoke with Mr. Sender a few days after the election to discuss the evolution of his design.

Steven Heller: How did you get the job of designing the Obama logo?

Sol Sender: We got the job through Mode. Steve Juras, a classmate of mine from graduate school is the creative director there. They have a long-standing relationship with AKP&D Message and Media, a campaign consulting firm led by David Axelrod and David Plouffe among others.

What Next for Obama's Network?

Murry — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:13:46 EST

LINK | E. J. Dionne Jr.| Washington Post | Friday, November 21, 2008; Page A23

While the nation's capital obsesses over Barack Obama's next Cabinet pick, the president-elect's lieutenants are engaged with what may be a more important long-term issue: What will become of Obama's vast grass-roots network?

Electoral campaigns, like circus tents, quickly disappear after the show is over. But Obama is our first community-organizer president, and he sees the way he got elected as being almost as crucial as the fact that he won. Because of the emphasis he put on organizing, barackobama.com might fairly be seen as the most successful high-tech startup of the past two years.

Over and over, Obama has spoken of change coming from "the bottom up," and the organization he built down to the precinct and neighborhood level could be an agent of that change. But how?

Obama: 'Long supported hosting the Olympics'

Murry — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:09:14 EST

President elect delivers taped address to IOC members

LINK | Philip Hersh | Chicago Tribune reporter | 12:29 PM CST, November 21, 2008

ISTANBUL - It didn't take long for Barack Obama to start playing a significant role in promoting Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

About 15 minutes into Chicago's Friday presentation of its bid plans to the general assembly of the European Olympic Committees, the president elect gave an 85-second videotaped address to an audience that included some two dozen International Olympic Committee members.

That Obama found the time to tape the address in the midst of his hectic schedule after the election clearly showed his willingness to push Chicago's bid in a four-city race including Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Madrid. It was the first time Obama has shown that support in a formal presentation to the IOC.

Obama delivered a message dear to the ears of the IOC: that the United States and Chicago would be honored to host the Games, both as a way to serve the Olympic movement and as an opportunity for the country to ``to reach out, welcome the world to our shores and strengthen our friendships across the globe."

Obama volunteers plan to keep in touch

Murry — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:39:34 EST

LINK | Martha T. Moore, USA TODAY | Nov. 21

Now what? That's the question for millions of volunteers who worked to elect Barack Obama — and for the organization that mobilized them.

Through innovative use of online social networks, the Obama campaign ended up with more than 2 million registered users on its MyBarackObama.com website. That database, plus the millions more e-mail addresses the campaign collected through events and fundraising, could be a valuable resource for the Obama administration.

The Obama transition team and the remaining campaign organization are keeping in touch with volunteers online, soliciting their opinions about their campaign experiences, asking volunteers to share war stories, and inviting them to write about their "vision" for the country. The campaign and transition websites this week asked visitors to click on a link to donate to victims of California wildfires — resulting in more than 100,000 hits.

Campaign manager David Plouffe this week sent an e-mail survey to those registered with the campaign website, asking how people want to remain involved and what issues they care about. Keeping Obama supporters engaged and active through the Obama transition website change.gov is "our first priority," transition spokesperson Jen Psaki says.

In both groups, teams are developing new online efforts to keep Obama supporters active. Legal firewalls between government and political campaigns mean the volunteer database can't be handed over wholesale to the Obama White House.

Bill Schneider: A sign of new politics?

Murry — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:42:31 EST

LINK | CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider | CNN | Nov. 20

WASHINGTON (CNN) — What's the significance of Obama sending Rahm Emanuel to meet with Republican leaders of Congress?

It's one more piece of evidence that President-elect Obama intends to pursue a new kind of politics.

President-elect Obama reaches out to his former rival Hillary Clinton to be his secretary of state.

He meets with John McCain to discuss issues they agree on. Obama described that meeting between his former opponent as "a good conversation about how we can do some work together to fix up the country."

The President-elect advises Senate Democrats not to be too harsh on Joe Lieberman for being disloyal to the party. Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee, is now a Independent Senator who is allied with the Democrats. But Lieberman was a major supporter of Republican John McCain during the presidential campaign and there were many Democrats who were hoping Lieberman would be punished for those actions by the loss of his chairmanship of the powerful Homeland Security Committee. Lieberman kept the chairmanship, and credited Obama, saying "I know that my colleagues in the Senate Democratic Caucus were moved not only by what Senator Reid (the Senate Majority Leader) said about my longtime record, but by the appeal from President-elect Obama himself that the nation unite now to confront our very serious problems."

Now Obama sends the man he's named as his White House Chief of Staff to meet with Republican leaders of Congress.

Emanuel said he hopes the meetings will spread "good will for ideas from both parties to solve challenges."

Could this be the new kind of politics Obama promised to bring to Washington?

Cabinet Picks Demonstrate Obama's Loyalty, Practicality

Murry — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:23:05 EST

LINK | Chris Cillizza | Washington Post Staff Writer | Thursday, November 20, 2008; 1:10 PM

President-elect Barack Obama is, as promised, moving quickly to put key members of his Administration in place -- an amalgam of longtime allies and veteran Washington insiders who demonstrate not just his loyalty, but also a strong practical streak.

Sixteen days after being elected the 44th president of the United States, Obama is well on his way to filling key positions, naming Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff and settling on Cabinet nominees such as Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to be the head of the Department of Homeland Security and former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle as the new chief at the Department of Health and Human Services.

And, Obama appears to be moving ever closer to naming Hillary Rodham Clinton, his one-time rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, as Secretary of State. Former President Bill Clinton has made a number of concessions, including the release of all donors to his library, of late in order to remove any impediment to his wife taking the job.

Both Daschle and Napolitano were early endorsers of Obama's presidential campaign and were widely expected to wind up in the cabinet. (Another, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a presidential candidate in his own right is mentioned as a possible Interior Department head.)

But, other picks, particularly if Clinton's nomination come to pass, are evidence, according to Democratic observers that Obama is interested more in getting things done than settling petty political scores.

"Obama is big," said Andy Grossman, a veteran party strategist. "And we need big. I think his willingness to hire people who can serve him well because they understand the levers of power shows a tremendous discipline and comfort with his own ego."

A Napolitano Nomination Could Signal Shift in Focus at Homeland Security

Murry — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:29:45 EST

LINK | Matthew Johnson, Rob Margetta and Caitlin Webber, CQ Staff

The potential appointment of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to lead the Homeland Security Department could signal a shift in focus away from the war on terror and toward domestic concerns, especially immigration.

As governor of a border state, she has been on the frontline of the simmering debate over illegal immigration.

“From a policy standpoint, if I were to guess, she would want to do a pretty serious and systematic review of the border strategy at this time and whether it’s achieving its goals,” said Doris Meissner, head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service under President Bill Clinton and now a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute.

“Of all of the parts of the immigration system, more money has flowed into the border enforcement part of the system than by far in any of the rest of it. Any leader or new group of leaders needs to ask if we are getting the payoff that is commiserate with the investment,” Meissner said.

A focus on immigration would necessarily entail a swing away from the department’s focus on counterterrorism, but with the disparate DHS portfolio, the next secretary will not be able to ignore other issues.

Emanuel on GOP: "We welcome their ideas"

Murry — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:35:21 EST

LINK | Politico | Nov. 20

Incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said President-elect Barack Obama wants to work with Republicans, saying the new chief executive will "welcome their ideas" on how to resolve the ongoing financial crisis the country faces.

Emanuel met today with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the entire GOP leadership from that chamber for about 30 minutes, and is currently huddling with House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.). A one-on-one session with House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) will follow the Pence meeting.

Emanuel noted that he personally had spoken to almost two dozen Republicans in the last two weeks to tell them that the new administration is serious about bipartisan cooperation.

"We welcome their ideas and their concepts," Emanuel told reporters after his meeting with McConnell and other Senate Republicans. "It's challenging times economically. The middle class is working harder, earning less and paying more. The challenges facing the country require that people of both parties work together to solve those problems."

"I told them that I welcome their ideas, be that in their area of education, health care, taxes, energy policy, national security," Emanuel added. "Give us those ideas, because we are formulating what we're going to do in the Obama administration."

Sen. John Ensign (Nev.), chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, said Emanuel demonstrated "a really good attitude about wanting to work with us" in his meeting with Senate Republicans, but noted there were no detailed policy negotiations during their conversation with Obama's new top aide.

Reform's Moment May Be Now

Murry — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:20:18 EST

LINK | James Carney | TIME | Nov. 20

The last time a democratic president tried to fulfill a campaign promise to overhaul the nation's health-care system, he stumbled into a buzz saw of opposition so brutally effective that it didn't just kill the effort, it rendered the issue politically toxic for 15 years.

Now it's Barack Obama's turn. With the economy staggering, the Federal Government spending billions to help prop it up and the nation still engaged in two costly overseas wars, the timing for health-care reform seems dreadful. And yet it could still happen. Obama ranks health-care reform third on his list of top priorities — behind addressing the financial crisis and passing an energy bill. Despite suffering from a malignant brain tumor, Senator Ted Kennedy has returned to Capitol Hill principally, he says, because he wants to orchestrate the passage of health-care legislation. "There's real momentum behind getting something big done," says one adviser to the President-elect. "This could be the best chance we've ever had."

Bush's land mines for Obama

Murry — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:02:47 EST

Last-minute rules and regulations by the Bush administration could take years to undo.

LINK | Rosa Brooks | LA Times Op-ed | November 20, 2008

You knew that W & Co. wouldn't go gently into that good night, didn't you?

Please. We're talking about the people who brought us precooked intelligence, Guantanamo, torture and extraordinary rendition. Who developed bizarre legal doctrines, asserting that the commander in chief is allowed to ignore federal law, and the vice president doesn't "belong" to the executive branch. Who enthusiastically dismantled long-standing regulatory frameworks and who still insist (as George W. Bush did last week) that "too much" government regulation is our main problem, even as the economic crisis deepens.

You really didn't think these guys would exit meekly, did you?

Don't expect anything undignified, like a Cheney-engineered coup (sorry, conspiracy theorists). But the administration can -- and will -- hamstring the incoming Obama team just as effectively with a raft of poisonous eleventh-hour rules and regulations.

Obama poised to rebrand America, experts say

Murry — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:17:50 EST

LINK | Kristi Keck | CNN | Nov. 20

(CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama is poised to restore the United States' image in the international community, but experts say the president-elect must show the world that his actions will live up to his rhetoric.

Receiving a warm welcome is not the same as maintaining one, and Obama has a lot of work to do to improve the U.S. brand.

America's image has declined in nearly every region of the world in recent years, but Obama's victory "enables the United States to start again with a clean slate," according to John Quelch, the senior associate dean at Harvard Business School.

"Americans can actually go to dinner parties and cocktail receptions around the world today and not have to apologize for the United States the way they have had to do the last several years," he said. "The election has made life a little bit easier for Americans living and traveling abroad to hold their head up high again."

The United States' tarnished reputation has been fueled by a combination of factors, including opposition to U.S. policies like the war Iraq and alleged torture and abuse of prisoners, the perception of hypocrisy, unilateralism, and the perceived war on Islam, according to a congressional report released in June.

Arizonan will head Homeland Security

Murry — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:02:36 EST

LINK | MIKE ALLEN | Politico | 11/19/08 11:18 PM EST

Arizona Demcratic Gov. Janet Napolitano has been chosen to serve as secretary of the vast and troubled Department of Homeland Security for President-elect Barack Obama, Democratic officials said. Napolitano is a border governor who will now be responsible for immigration policy and border security, which are part of Homeland Security’s myriad functions.

Napolitano brings law and order experience from her stint as the Grand Canyon State’s first female attorney general. One of the nation’s most prominent female elected officials, she made frequent appearances on behalf of Barack Obama during the campaign. She was reelected to a second four-year term in 2006.

Brazile: Washington getting ready for event of a lifetime

Murry — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:03:23 EST

LINK | Donna Brazile | CNN commentary | Nov. 20

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Is it just me or has everyone living within a 120-mile radius of the U.S. Capitol Building heard from his or her fifth cousin lately?

Lord knows I have. I even had someone who shares my last name contact me, wondering if we were kin.

Relatives, friends, casual acquaintances and complete strangers are suddenly ablaze with desire to connect with Washington area residents: They are all planning to descend on the nation's capital for the inauguration ceremonies of the first black president of the United States, Barack Obama.

There is one hitch, though. They don't have tickets. And, oh by the way, they hint ever so delicately, there are absolutely no hotel rooms available.

How Obama Won

Murry — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:28:41 EST

Two leading political experts on the historic election – and how it could usher in "a brand-new nation"

LINK | JANN S. WENNER | Rolling Stone | Posted Nov 27, 2008 1:45 PM

Two days after the historic election of Barack Obama, we met at the Rolling Stone offices in New York with two of America's most perceptive political observers. Peter D. Hart, known for his nonpartisan poll for NBC News and The Wall Street Journal, has conducted public-opinion research for 30 governors and 40 U.S. senators, from Hubert Humphrey to Ted Kennedy. David Gergen, director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School at Harvard, has served in the White House as a senior adviser to presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton.

What was the single biggest key to Obama's victory?
PETER D. HART: The core he stimulated within the electorate — African-Americans, Latinos, young voters, first-time voters. He ran better than two-thirds in all of those groups, and 95 percent with African-Americans. He took what had been a confined electorate and changed it. In doing so, he put into play states that Democrats never thought they could win — Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Indiana and North Carolina, as well as Ohio and Florida.

DAVID GERGEN: The key, in my judgment, was that early on, Obama forged a strategy for victory, assembled a team around that strategy, and executed the best-organized and most brilliant campaign we've seen in American politics since John Kennedy in 1960. Essential to that strategy was the building of a new coalition. What we now see is the emergence of a possible majority that could bring dominance to the Democratic Party for some years to come. We've had a long period of Republican dominance in the country. Republicans have won seven out of the last 10 presidential elections, and they built much of that success around what was often called the Reagan coalition. Now Obama has built what could be an Obama coalition. Peter's absolutely right in identifying the millennial generation, the African-American community and Latinos as the driving forces behind this new coalition. It also includes women, suburban voters and others who have been traditional parts of the Democratic voting bloc. These, to me, are the new drivers.

Daschle Could Be a Boost to Obama's Health-Care Agenda

Murry — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:48:59 EST

LINK | Karen Tumulty / Washington | TIME | Nov. 19

"There's an inevitability to health-care reform," Tom Daschle said, the first time I ever heard him talk about the subject. "The question is, how good will it be?" That was on Dec. 14, 1993, when Daschle was still a relatively junior member of the Senate. He was standing before a skeptical business group in Watertown, S.D., trying to explain the complicated planthat First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton had put together back in Washington.

Fifteen years later, major health-care reform still hasn't happened, but Daschle is now well positioned to change that as President-elect Barack Obama's reported pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). The former Senate Democratic leader has an understanding of the nation's health-care problem that comes not just from Senate hearing rooms or staff briefings. Daschle has seen, as few in Washington have, the particular toll that the broken system has taken on rural America. When I went to South Dakota 15 years ago to do a story on the problem, Daschle drove me around himself, spreading a road map on the front seat of his car and taking me to places where poverty rates were high, people were older and in poor health, and where hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and doctors were disappearing. But they were also places where people had an acute skepticism of anything that came to them packaged as a solution from Washington.

A Force for Good -- but Not at State

Murry — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:12:10 EST

LINK | David S. Broder | Washington Post Op-ed | Wednesday, November 19, 2008; A21

It may be moot and it certainly is presumptuous, but I would be less than honest with readers if I did not say what I believe: Making Hillary Rodham Clinton the secretary of state in Barack Obama's administration would be a mistake.

I do not doubt that she could do the job -- and do it well. I have been a fan of the former first lady's since I covered her efforts for health-care reform 15 years ago. What I saw in the recent campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination was convincing evidence of her physical stamina and moral courage, and of her capacity to improve her own performance at every step of the process. I admired her readiness to endorse and campaign hard for Obama after her own candidacy fell short.

Equally, I admire Obama's readiness to reach out to former rivals and enlist their help in the governing enterprise he is launching. His serious discussions with Clinton, John McCain and Bill Richardson, among others, are testaments to his sincerity in wanting to move beyond the partisanship and personal differences that too often poison the atmosphere in Washington.

What, then, is the problem? Clinton is the wrong person for that job in this administration. It's not the best use of her talents, and it's certainly not the best fit for this new president.

Emanuel Sets a Challenge

Murry — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:33:23 EST

LINK | JONATHAN WEISMAN | WSJ | Nov. 19

President-elect Barack Obama's incoming White House chief of staff challenged chief executives and other business leaders Tuesday night to join the new administration in a push for universal health care, saying incremental increases in coverage won't be acceptable.

"When it gets rough out there, a lot of business leaders get out of the car and say, 'We're OK with minor reform.' I'm challenging you today, we're going to have to do big, serious things," Rahm Emanuel said, speaking to The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council, a conference convened to elicit corporate opinion on the challenges facing the new president.

Since the president-elect named Mr. Emanuel his chief of staff, the famously voluble Chicago congressman has limited his public appearances and strained to stay out of the news. But on Tuesday night, he was combative with a business audience.

Kerry expected to get top foreign affairs panel post

Murry — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:26:56 EST

LINK | Bryan Bender | Boston Globe | Nov. 19

WASHINGTON -- More than three decades after he first appeared before the panel as a 27-year-old Vietnam veteran-turned-antiwar protester, Senator John F. Kerry is widely expected to be named the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a position that will give him enormous influence over international relations.

The pending announcement by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, which congressional aides said could come as early as today, would elevate Kerry to the top of the foreign policy establishment and give him a major role in shaping President-elect Barack Obama's foreign policy priorities.

Tom Daschle accepts Obama offer to lead Health and Human Services

Murry — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:43:52 EST

LINK | Janet Hook and Noam N. Levey | LA Times | 11:34 AM PST, November 19, 2008

Reporting from Washington -- President-elect Barack Obama has asked former Sen. Tom Daschle to serve as secretary of Health and Human Services, and the South Dakota Democrat has accepted the offer.

Daschle, if confirmed, would head the agency that will handle the new administration's signature initiative to expand health insurance coverage, a Democrat familiar with the process said.

Pelosi Announces New Majority Leadership Team

Murry — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:13:34 EST

LINK | Huffington Post | November 18, 2008 09:44 PM

Pelosi Announces New Majority Leadership Team.
Read the press release.

------

Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced today the new Majority Leadership team for the 111th Congress, elected today by members of the Democratic Caucus:

· Speaker of the House: Nancy Pelosi of California
· Majority Leader: Steny Hoyer of Maryland
· Majority Whip: James E. Clyburn of South Carolina
· Democratic Caucus Chairman: John B. Larson of Connecticut
· Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman: Xavier Becerra of California
· Assistant to the Speaker and Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: Chris Van Hollen of Maryland

Leadership will take office on the first day of the new Congress, January 6, 2009.

Malia and Sasha's big move

Murry — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:14:06 EST

As the Obama girls get ready to move into the White House, their parents must decide how to help them live in the fishbowl of the presidency.

LINK | Faye Fiore and Geraldine Baum | LA Times | November 18, 2008

Reporting from Washington and New York -- One of the few times Barack Obama lost his famous cool during the presidential campaign was the day photographers got too close as he walked his youngest daughter, who was dressed as a corpse bride, to a Halloween party near their Chicago home."You've got a shot. Leave us alone," Obama barked.

The moment revealed Obama's ambivalence even as he prepared to move his daughters -- Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7 -- into the fishbowl known as the American presidency: when to share them with the country and when to snap the curtains shut.

Obama in talks with Gates on Pentagon role

Murry — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:46:56 EST

LINK | Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington | FT.com | Last updated: November 19 2008 02:22

President-elect Barack Obama and Robert Gates are negotiating terms under which the defence secretary would remain as Pentagon chief in his administration, the Financial Times has learned.

Mr Obama, through an intermediary, has approached Mr Gates, who has served as defence secretary under President George W. Bush since 2006, about accepting the position, which would place a respected Republican appointee in his cabinet.

According to a source familiar with the situation, Mr Gates is seriously weighing the option. The two men are ironing out policy and personnel issues before a final offer could be made.

Mullen says US military can meet Obama's demands

Murry — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:18:08 EST

Anne Gearan & Lolita C. Baldor | Associated Press | Nov. 18

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. military officer said Tuesday the Pentagon is developing plans to get troops quickly out of Iraq and into Afghanistan to battle a more confident and successful Taliban.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the AP in an interview that the military has already identified and practiced traveling out of Iraq along exit routes through Turkey and Jordan to determine "what the challenges might be." The governments in those two countries, he said, have supported that effort.

While he was careful to note that he is still following the orders of President Bush, Mullen said he was clearly aware of President-elect Barack Obama's battle plan to withdraw from Iraq in 16 months.

"I've been listening to the campaign, and I understand," Mullen said. "And he has certainly reinforced that since the election, so from a planning standpoint we are looking at that as well."

He said he is working to get as many troops into Afghanistan as quickly as possible and noted he's not surprised that Taliban leaders said this week that they would not entertain settlement talks with the Afghan government as long as foreign forces remained in the country.

"It's my belief that you negotiate from a position of strength and right now the Taliban is doing pretty well," said Mullen. "I think that's important as we discuss how we negotiate, and with whom we negotiate, that we do so from a position of strength."

Obama To Name Peter Orszag As Budget Director

Murry — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:44:56 EST

LINK | Alexis Simendinger | National Journal | Nov. 18

President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to tap Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag, once a veteran economic adviser in the Clinton White House, to become his budget director, according to several National Journal sources. The Office of Management and Budget job -- seen as a key post to help Obama deliver on his domestic policy agenda amidst the gloom of a $700 billion federal financial rescue, a recession and the prospects of a $1 trillion deficit next year -- carries Cabinet rank. An announcement is expected soon, but could come with other personnel decisions Obama is making to lead the Treasury Department and National Economic Council in his White House.

The two leading candidates to become Obama's "honest broker" lead at the NEC are Dan Tarullo and Jacob "Jack" Lew, both respected former members ofBill Clinton's deep economic bench. Both have senior government and academic track records. Tarullo, a former assistant to the president for international economic policy, is coordinating part of Obama's economic transition team. Lew, a former OMB director and former executive vice president at New York University, heads Citigroup's alternative investments group.

Hillary might reject State offer

Murry — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:37:54 EST

LINK | GLENN THRUSH | Politico | 11/18/08 5:06 PM EST Updated: 11/18/08 5:06 PM EST

Hillary Rodham Clinton isn’t certain she would accept the Secretary of State post even if Barack Obama offers it to her, several people close to the former first lady say.

Press reports that portray Clinton as willing to accept the job – once the Obama transition team vets Bill Clinton’s philanthropic and business ventures – are inaccurate, one Clinton insider told Politico.

“A lot of the speculation and reporting is out ahead of the facts here,” said the person, who requested anonymity. “She is still weighing this, independent of President Clinton's work.”

Clinton, the person said, remains deeply “torn” between the possibility of serving in Obama’s cabinet and remaining in the Senate to “help pass health care and work on a broad range of domestic issues.”

That comment jibes with what others close to Clinton have been saying since the Secretary of State chatter began last week: that Clinton is conflicted and the deal far from done, despite screaming headlines in outlets including the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper claiming the offer was made and accepted.

Obama snags Hill insider for White House team

Murry — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:29:39 EST

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS | Associated Press Writer | Nov. 18

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Phil Schiliro has spent his entire working life in Congress, doing every imaginable job from drafting arcane legislation to running for a seat himself. Steeped in the culture and traditions of Capitol Hill, Schiliro seemed to be one of those people who'd never leave voluntarily - he'd have to be carted out.

But President-elect Barack Obama changed all that when he snagged Schiliro to be his White House liaison to Congress. Now Schiliro, 52, is tasked with being the bridge between the new president and the lawmakers who have the power to make or break his agenda.

Obama's Attorney General

Murry — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:21:08 EST

LINK | Michael Isikoff | Newsweek | Nov. 18

President-elect Obama has decided to tap Eric Holder as his attorney general, putting the veteran Washington lawyer in place to become the first African-American to head the Justice Department, according to two legal sources close to the presidential transition.

Holder, who served as deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration, still has to undergo a formal “vetting” review by the Obama transition team before the selection is final and is publicly announced, said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified talking about the transition process. But in the discussions over the past few days, Obama offered Holder the job and he accepted, the source said. The announcement is not likely until after Obama announces his choices to lead the Treasury and State departments.

Holder, 57, has been on Obama’s “short list” for attorney general from the outset. A partner at the D.C. law firm of Covington & Burling, Holder served as co-chief (along with Caroline Kennedy) of Obama’s vice-presidential selection process. He also actively campaigned for Obama throughout the year and grew personally close to the president-elect. Holder has not returned a call seeking comment; a spokeswoman for the Obama transition team told Newsweek in an e-mail early Tuesday afternoon that no decision has been made.

Can Mall Be Filled For an Inauguration? 4 Million May Try It.

Murry — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:12:34 EST

LINK | Nikita Stewart and Michael E. Ruane | Washington Post Staff Writers | Tuesday, November 18, 2008; A01

District and federal officials are preparing for as many as 4 million people for the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, a crowd that would be three or four times larger than previous big events on the Mall.

Only a fraction of those people will be close enough to get a good look at the action. But officials are planning extra JumboTrons at the Mall and along the inaugural parade route so that spectators can feel a part of the historic day.

"The Mall actually may be the best seat in the house. . . . It'll kind of be like the world's biggest stage and auditorium on January 20th," said Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), adding that the crowd projections have emerged in briefings conducted by federal and local officials.

All plans are pending approval of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, to be set up by Obama, which determines the size and nature of the inaugural festivities, Fenty said. But District officials have met several times with the Secret Service and other agencies.

The Secret Service is taking the lead in overseeing security and other logistics. Even for a city that has hosted vast throngs for marches, protests, celebrations, funerals and inaugurations, this will be an unprecedented test of planning and resources. The question arises: Can the city handle it? Can millions of people fit downtown?

Or, could there be another Meltdown of '76?

Cook: Obama showing a steady hand

Murry — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:05:13 EST

People should find hope in sure-footedness carrying over after Jan. 20.

ANALYSIS

LINK | Charlie Cook | National Journal | updated 8:46 a.m. PT, Tues., Nov. 18, 2008

WASHINGTON - It has often and quite appropriately been said that campaign skills do not necessarily translate into governing skills, but it is also true that the personal traits one demonstrates day in and day out are enduring.

Much of the skepticism, including often in this column, to former Sen. Barack Obama's bid for the presidency was built around what was said to be a thin resume.

He began his campaign just two years removed from the Illinois state Senate and will have just four years experience in Washington or, for that matter, statewide office when he takes the presidential oath of office Jan. 20.

But during this just-concluded campaign, President-elect Obama demonstrated a focus and discipline, with an unparalleled level of caution and deliberation. Everything seemed to be considered from every angle before decisions were made, the emphasis always seemed to be on planning and reasoning over instinct.

Reflecting On Race Barriers

Murry — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:34:06 EST

Obama's breakthrough provokes a global race to capitalize on, and build on, his win.

LINK | Christopher Dickey | NEWSWEEK | From the magazine issue dated Nov 24, 2008

They'll be slaughtering sheep in Galilee this week to honor a man that local Bedouins now claim is their cousin: American President-elect Barack Obama. The sheikh in a tiny village not far from the Israeli city of Nazareth says his mother remembers an African man who married into the clan some 80 years ago. The evidence of kinship is, to say the least, thinly substantiated. Abdul Rahman Sheikh Abdullah, 53, tells NEWSWEEK that his late cousins carried themselves like Obama, gestured like Obama, grinned like Obama. "His smile is typical of our tribe," says the sheikh. "It shows gentleness and kindness but also firmness." But the sheikh says he really doesn't want much from the new president: a little recognition, an invitation to the White House and, oh yes, for Obama to defend the rights of Bedouins in Israel and around the world. "Obama will not desert his family," the sheikh says confidently.

Although few others go so far as to claim blood ties to Obama based on his smile, the last few weeks have seen a vast range of people, some oppressed, some powerful, some just opportunistic, who have embraced the Obama mystique as they imagine it. In the process, they are revealing a great deal more about their own societies, their frustrations, and especially their problems with racism and ethnic tensions, than they are about the president-elect of the United States.

Game Changer of the Year

Murry — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:11:41 EST

LINK | GQ | Nov. 17

Senator Edward M. Kennedy tells us why Barack Obama was the change we were waiting for—and the man we can believe in

-----------------

As I write this, Barack Obama and John McCain have just completed their final debate, and the country is a few short days away from a historic election. Of course, I’m doing all that I can for my candidate. But whether he wins or loses, Barack Obama has ushered in a new era of American politics with a limitless vision of a better future that will endure for many years to come. Through his candidacy, Obama has provided a glimpse of a stronger, better, fairer America, where change comes from the bottom up, where we all come together to meet the great challenges of our time. He has inspired millions of new voters of all ages, races, and incomes to lend their voices for real change. For in this man, Americans can see not just the audacity but the possibility of hope for the country that is yet to be.

Clinton Vetting Includes Look at Mr. Clinton

Murry — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:42:41 EST

LINK | PETER BAKER and HELENE COOPER | NY Times | Published: November 16, 2008

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama’s advisers have begun reviewing former President Bill Clinton’s finances and activities to see whether they would preclude the appointment of his wife,Hillary Rodham Clinton, as secretary of state, Democrats close to the situation said Sunday.

The examination of the former president suggests how seriously Mr. Obama is considering bringing his onetime rival for the Democratic presidential nomination into his cabinet. He met with Mrs. Clinton in Chicago on Thursday to talk about the prospect and word quickly filtered out. Many Democrats close to both camps said Sunday that it seemed likely that Mr. Obama would ask her to take the job, assuming they could work something out regarding Mr. Clinton’s role.

A team of lawyers trying to facilitate the potential nomination spent the weekend looking into Mr. Clinton’s philanthropic organization, interactions with foreign governments and ties to pharmaceutical companies, a Democrat close to both camps said. While Mr. Clinton has used his foundation to champion efforts to fight AIDS, poverty and climate change around the world, he has also taken millions in speaking fees and contributions from foreign officials and businesses with interests in American governmental policies.

Lose the BlackBerry? Yes He Can, Maybe

Murry — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:37:48 EST

LINK | JEFF ZELENY | NY Times | Published: November 15, 2008

WASHINGTON — Sorry, Mr. President. Please surrender your BlackBerry.

Those are seven words President-electBarack Obama is dreading but expecting to hear, friends and advisers say, when he takes office in 65 days.

For years, like legions of other professionals, Mr. Obama has been all but addicted to his BlackBerry. The device has rarely been far from his side — on most days, it was fastened to his belt — to provide a singular conduit to the outside world as the bubble around him grew tighter and tighter throughout his campaign.

“How about that?” Mr. Obama replied to a friend’s congratulatory e-mail message on the night of his victory.

But before he arrives at the White House, he will probably be forced to sign off. In addition to concerns about e-mail security, he faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas. A decision has not been made on whether he could become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful.

Obama’s White House Hires Reflect Respect for Hill

Murry — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:00:59 EST

LINK | Jonathan Allen, CQ Staff | Nov. 16, 2008 – 4:33 p.m.

Among the small number of White House staff announcements made so far by President-elect Barack Obama , most of the top spots have gone to recent Capitol Hill veterans.

The latest wave, announced early Sunday morning, includes Senior Adviser Pete Rouse, who served as Senate chief of staff to Obama and former Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, who was the chief of staff to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus .

They join incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel , a Chicago congressman who is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House leadership, and White House lobbyist Phil Schiliro, who worked as Daschle’s policy director and was House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman ’s top aide before joining the Obama campaign as a liaison to Capitol Hill.

While Capitol Hill experience is not the primary reason for the appointments, the hires reflect Obama’s sensitivity to the importance of Congress in governance, according to a senior transition official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

He is intent on enacting an agenda by finding common ground with Democrats and Republicans, according to the official.

Turning to Capitol Hill for talent is a “very smart move that will only enhance prospects for significant legislative victories,” said Jim Manley, a senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev.

Obama’s Lincoln

Murry — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:37:36 EST

During the campaign, he pledged to be a unifying leader. Good thing for Obama there are other presidents whose experiences he can draw on, including one, in particular, from his home state.

By Evan Thomas and Richard Wolffe | NEWSWEEK | Published Nov 15, 2008 | From the magazine issue dated Nov 24, 2008

It is the season to compare Barack Obama to Abraham Lincoln. Two thin men from rude beginnings, relatively new to Washington but wise to the world, bring the nation together to face a crisis. Both are superb rhetoricians, both geniuses at stagecraft and timing. Obama, like Lincoln and unlike most modern politicians, even writes his own speeches, or at least drafts the really important ones—by hand, on yellow legal paper—such as his remarkably honest speech on race during the Reverend Wright imbroglio last spring.
Obama does have a talented young speechwriter named Jon Favreau, and on the day before the election, Favreau worked up a draft of a victory speech and sent it to Obama. The word came back from Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, who was sitting with Obama in Charlotte, N.C.: "Barack wants to lean into bipartisanship a little more. Even though the Democrats have won a great victory, we should reach out and be humbled by it. Figure out a good Lincoln quote to bring it all together," advised Axelrod, who suggested looking at the end of Lincoln's first Inaugural Address.
More than familiar with Lincoln's rhetoric, Favreau decided to pass on the most overquoted passage of all, invoking "the better angels of our nature," and to quote the words that came before: "We are not enemies, but friends … Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection."

The Brilliant Brain Trust

Murry — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:34:40 EST

Obama should give greater weight to intellectual acumen and subject-specific knowledge than recent predecessors have.

LINK | Jacob Weisberg | NEWSWEEK | Published Nov 15, 2008 | From the magazine issue dated Nov 24, 2008

Here's a radical suggestion: Barack Obama should pick the smartest people he can find for his cabinet. Brilliance has sometimes been a criterion in presidential appointments, of course, but seldom the major one. It usually takes a back seat to rewarding supporters, playing congressional politics, seeking diversity and appeasing interest groups. Presidents always place a high premium on personal loyalty.

Obama can't avoid such considerations. But it makes sense for him to give greater weight to intellectual acumen and subject-specific knowledge than his recent predecessors have, both because of the depth of the problems he faces and because of his own style as a thinker and a decision maker. Bush, whose ego was threatened by any outburst of excellence in his vicinity, politicized all policy and centralized it in the White House. Obama is intellectually confident, enjoys engaging with ideas and inclines to pragmatism rather than partisanship. He can handle a Lincolnesque team of rivals or a FDR-style brain trust. And he's going to need one.

First-time voters look to Obama to restore American dream

Murry — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 13:07:42 EST

LINK | Emanuella Grinberg | CNN | Nov. 15

Like many voters on Election Day, Nurul Aman and his family dutifully rose before sunrise and headed to the polls in Andover, Massachusetts, to cast their votes.

But this election was especially significant for Aman, wife Nilufur and son Samuel, who were all voting for the first time.

"As the first-time voter, it was emotionally remarkable to perform my civic duty," said Aman, a Bangladeshi native who became a U.S. citizen in 2005. "I felt great taking the ownership of this voting process that created a historic moment for the nation and the world."

As a family, the Amans represented two major groups from the bloc of first-time voters, which accounted for roughly 11 percent of this year's electorate. Samuel Aman is a college student, and his parents, both in their 50s, are recent citizens.

An overwhelming majority of first-time voters, including the Amans, voted for Sen. Barack Obama over Sen. John McCain by a margin of 69 to 31 percent, CNN exit polls show.

Obama invited to address United Nations

Murry — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 12:50:50 EST

LINK | Reuters | Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:37pm EST

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly president, a former minister in a left-wing Nicaraguan government, has congratulated Barack Obama on being elected U.S. president and invited him to address the assembly.

Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann sent Obama a letter this week suggesting that he address the other 191 U.N. member states "at his convenience after assuming his new functions," assembly spokesman Enrique Yeves told reporters on Friday.

Obama, a Democrat, takes office on January 20 following his November 4 election victory over Republican John McCain.

The U.S. president always addresses the General Assembly at its annual general debate in September, but is not limited to then. Outgoing President George W. Bush spoke on Thursday at an assembly debate on dialogue between different religions.

A U.N. official said he could not immediately recall a case of a General Assembly president sending a similar letter to a newly elected leader and suggested D'Escoto wanted to show readiness to work with the new U.S. administration despite his anti-American reputation.

The invitation comes after years of strained ties between the United Nations and the Bush administration, partly centering over the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said was illegal.

D'Escoto was foreign minister in Nicaragua's Sandinista government in the 1980s, when it was battling a U.S.-backed Contra insurgency. In a 2004 interview he described former U.S. President Ronald Reagan as "the butcher of my people" and said Bush was Reagan's spiritual heir.

(Reporting by Patrick Worsnip; editing by Chris Wilson)

Obama expected to push net neutrality

Murry — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 03:33:12 EST

The president-elect campaigned on the concept and he might appoint a new FCC chief to implement it.

LINK | Cecilia Kang | LA Times | November 15, 2008

Reporting from Washington -- President-elect Barack Obama famously made the World Wide Web a pillar of his campaign, so it is not surprising that the man already being called the nation's first "wired" president has championed the idea of an open Internet.

And that is what Sprint Nextel Chief Executive Dan Hesse said recently "should scare" the telecom industry the most.

Republican lawmakers and technology regulators have fought the idea of an open Internet -- popularly known as net neutrality -- calling it a "solution in search of a problem."

But it is widely expected that Obama will make net neutrality and access to broadband Internet connections in rural and poor areas a key part of his agenda to close economic divides and help spur job creation.

Barack Obama's late grandmother remembered

Murry — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:32:17 EST

LINK | Associated Press | Nov. 15

HONOLULU—The late grandmother of President-elect Barack Obama was eulogized Friday as a strong, vibrant woman who was dedicated to her profession and her family.
About 150 friends, former co-workers and others gathered to pay their respects to Madelyn Dunham at a 45-minute ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Dunham died Nov. 2 at the age of 86, two days before Obama won the presidency. She and her late husband, Stanley, raised him from 1971 until he graduated high school and left Hawaii in 1979.
Neither Obama nor his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, attended. A private family ceremony is likely to be held sometime next month when Obama is expected to visit the islands.
"It broke his heart not to be here," said Emme Tomimbang, a friend of Obama's and the service's master of ceremonies. "Even though Barack and Maya couldn't be here physically, they were here in spirit. In fact, they both helped put this together."

Obama Hires Jarrett for Senior Role

Murry — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:08:37 EST

LINK | JODI KANTOR | NY TIMES | Nov. 14

Nearly two decades ago, Valerie Jarrett hired a young lawyer named Michelle Obama for a job at Chicago’s City Hall. Now President-elect Barack Obama has hired Ms. Jarrett for a senior role in the White House.

Ms. Jarrett’s role will be threefold, as is her title: White House Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison. A longstanding member of Barack Obama’s tiny core of top advisers, she will continue providing him with counsel on a wide-ranging set of issues, she said Friday evening. Second, she will serve as the White House’s point person for business with state and local officials. Additionally, she will supervise the Office of Public Liaison, a relatively quiet office which she hopes to turn into a more active channel for government-citizen collaboration.

“The level of the engagement in the campaign was tremendous, and we want people to understand this will be their White House,” she said in an interview.

Mr. Obama “was so committed to a grassroots campaign and wanted to keep that energy galvanized in a positive direction,” she said, explaining his thinking for the Public Liaison role.

Obama wins 1 of Nebraska's electoral votes

Murry — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:03:14 EST

***It's finally official***

LINK | JEAN ORTIZ | Associated Press Writer | Nov. 14

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- President-elect Barack Obama has won one of Nebraska's electoral votes, making history in a state that has never split its electoral votes.

After all remaining ballots were counted Friday, Obama emerged with a 3,325-vote lead over Republican John McCain in unofficial results in the 2nd Congressional District. The district covers Douglas County, which includes Omaha, and portions of adjacent Sarpy County.

Nebraska, with five votes, and Maine are the only states that divide their electoral votes by congressional district.

Obama now has 365 electoral votes to McCain's 162.

Missouri, with 11 electoral votes, is still too close to call. Election officials there have until Tuesday to finish counting.

Vast Obama network becomes a political football

Murry — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:57:53 EST

Some Obama advisors want to blend his campaign operation with the Democratic National Committee. Others worry that such a move could cause the grass-roots organization to unravel.

LINK | Peter Wallsten and Tom Hamburger | LA Times | November 14, 2008

Reporting from Washington -- It is the biggest and broadest American political force ever created -- a vast, electronically linked network of activists, neighborhood organizers and volunteers who raised record amounts of money and propelled Barack Obama to the White House.

Now, as Obama turns from campaigning to governing, his advisors are struggling to harness this potent web of supporters to help him move his agenda over the next four years. But it is no simple task to convert an insurgency into a standing army.

VP-elect Biden hopes to be a hands-on No. 2

Murry — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:35:47 EST

LINK | NEDRA PICKLER | Associated Press Writer | Nov. 14

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President-elect Joe Biden was all smiles Thursday when he paid a courtesy call the man he will succeed, Dick Cheney. But he has insisted he wants to be nothing like him. Biden has called Cheney "the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history" and said he couldn't name a single good thing Cheney had done.

But even if he won't acknowledge any similarities, there's one way that Biden wants to be like Cheney - a strong partner in governing the country.

Biden is proving to be a hands-on No. 2 to President-elect Barack Obama. He is carving out his own niche, specializing in foreign affairs, his area of expertise for decades in the Senate, and sticking close to Obama.

Officials: Sen. Clinton eyed as secretary of state

Murry — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:19:42 EST

Others mentioned for job include Hagel, Kerry, Richardson and Daschle

LINK | NBC News and news services | Nov. 14

CHICAGO - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is among the candidates that President-elect Barack Obama is considering for secretary of state, two Obama advisors told NBC News.

Clinton was rumored to be a contender for the job last week, but the talk died down as party activists questioned whether she was best-suited to be the top U.S. diplomat in an Obama administration. The talk resumed Thursday, a day after Obama named several former aides to President Bill Clinton to help run his transition effort.

A Democratic official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, said the two met Thursday afternoon in Obama's Chicago office.

Hawaii vs. Illinois: Battling Over a Favorite Son

Murry — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:21:17 EST

LINK | Dan Nakaso / Honolulu | TIME | Nov. 14

Almost immediately after Barack Obama's Election Night victory, Kohono Mossman's voicemail began filling up with requests for tickets. Born and raised on Maui and now a Pentagon consultant, Mossman, 26, suddenly finds himself in charge of the hottest ticket in town as the chairman of the Hawaii Inaugural Ball, put on by the 400-member Hawaii State Society of Washington, D.C. He sold out of the 900 tickets (at $200 each) three days after Obama's victory. It is the very first Inaurgural Ball thrown by the state, now the proud holder of the title of the place where Obama was born. The ticket requests are still keep coming in, desperately. "My father [is] in heart failure," one person wrote Mossman hoping to get tickets to the ball. "He has had a lifetime love of politics, lived in Hawaii... Can I get two tickets?" Mossman has had to decline offers of $10,000 sponsorships because he cannot provide the eight-seat tables for the would-be donors. "It kills me when I have to turn people away because we don't have any more tickets."

But in spite of the excitement over the inaugural ball, Hawaii has a bit of a chip on its shoulder. Barack Obama, after all, is a Senator from Illinois, and the incoming President comes off as more a Land of Lincolner than a son of the Aloha State. It's been that way throughout his political career. For example, it took more than a year of watching Obama play poker in "The Committee Meeting" — the nickname that Illinois state senators gave to their regular, after-hour poker games — before legislator Denny Jacobs noticed Obama's occasional off-hand references to Hawaii's nearly year-round 85-degree weather. "When we were down there in January and it was a blistering 2 degrees below zero, he would sit there and say, 'You know, if we were in Hawaii we wouldn't have this problem,'" Jacobs says.

Medvedev seeks fresh start in Russia-US ties

Murry — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:09:10 EST

LINK | ANGELA CHARLTON |AP News | Nov 13, 2008 17:41 EST

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's move to the White House is a chance for a fresh start between the two powerful, nuclear-armed nations, whose ties have deteriorated over the past decade.

"We are ready to develop really good-neighborly relations with the U.S.," Medvedev told business leaders in Cannes, France. "I'm very glad the president-elect looks at these problems ... as a priority for U.S. foreign policy."

"For us, relations with the U.S. are a foreign policy priority, too ... given the special role and mission of our two countries," Medvedev said.

"The new administration will have the chance, if not to start with a totally clean slate, then at least to look at the issues without prejudice," he said.

Obama-McCain: New meeting set to bury campaign ax

Murry — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:03:06 EST

LINK | LIZ SIDOTI | Associated Press Writer | Nov. 14

CHICAGO (AP) -- President-elect Barack Obama will meet Monday with John McCain in talks that Obama's transition office said would focus on ways they can cooperate on an array of troublesome issues facing the country.

The meeting will be the first since Obama, the Democratic Illinois senator, beat McCain, the Arizona Republican senator, by an Electoral College landslide in the Nov. 4 election.

"It's well known that they share an important belief that Americans want and deserve a more effective and efficient government, and will discuss ways to work together to make that a reality," Obama spokesman Stephanie Cutter said in announcing the meeting.

Cutter also said the two will be joined at Obama's Chicago transition office by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a McCain confidant, and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois Democrat whom Obama has chosen to be his White House chief of staff.

For Obama and Family, a Personal Transition

Murry — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:29:32 EST

LINK | PETER BAKER | NY Times | Published: November 13, 2008

CHICAGO — A couple of weeks ago, Barack Obama headed to the Hyde Park Hair Salon for a trim. He greeted the staff and other customers and plopped down in the same chair in front of the same barber who has cut his hair for the last 14 years.

But when he wanted a trim this week, the Secret Service took one look at the shop’s large plate-glass windows and the gawking tourists eager for a glimpse of the president-elect and the plan quickly changed. If Mr. Obama could no longer come to the barber, the barber would come to him and cut his hair at a friend’s apartment.

Life for the newly chosen president and his family has changed forever. Even the constraints and security of the campaign trail do not compare to the bubble that has enveloped him in the 10 days since his election. Renegade, as the Secret Service calls him, now lives within the strict limits that come with the most powerful office on the planet.

Yes It Was... A Mandate for "Progressive Patriotism"

Murry — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:10:42 EST

LINK | Mark Green | Huffington Post | Nov. 13

President Bill Clinton once confided to an aide, "I'm a progressive president in a conservative era." Will Barack Obama be a progressive president in a progressive era, the first since 1965 and 1933?

Several Republicans leaders and media commentaries -- including a recent Newsweekcover story on "America the Conservative" -- say no. Obama ran a cautious, centrist campaign, they conclude, so should not "lurch left" as president.

This is stale, presumptuous and wrong.

Obama's Good Start

Murry — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:53:08 EST

LINK | David S. Broder | Washington Post Op-ed | Thursday, November 13, 2008; A23

So far, so good.

The first week of Barack Obama's transition to the presidency has gone about as well as anyone could imagine. His few public appearances have been gaffe-free, and his initial decisions in setting up his administration have been strongly reassuring.

One area of legitimate questions about the president-elect concerns his ability to organize, direct and motivate his administration. Nothing in his prior life in Illinois or Washington required or tested those skills. His campaign -- a model of efficiency and innovation -- certainly augured well. But there is a world of difference between running for the White House and leading the country -- witness the stumbles of every new president since Ronald Reagan.

What we have seen so far suggests that Obama's skills will carry over to his new and expanded responsibilities. His victory speech in Grant Park, his first news conference and his meeting with President Bush went off almost without a hitch.

He wisely emphasized that all executive authority -- on issues here and abroad -- remains in Bush's hands until Jan. 20, but at the same time he urged the president and Congress to do everything in their power to address the sinking economy.

The new president's first decision -- to name Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff -- was a positive step on two levels.

The New Liberal Order

Murry — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:43:30 EST

LINK | PETER BEINART | TIME | Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008

The death and rebirth of American liberalism both began with flags in Grant Park. On Aug. 28, 1968, 10,000 people gathered there to protest the Democratic Convention taking place a few blocks away, which was about to nominate Lyndon Johnson's Vice President, Hubert Humphrey, thus implicitly ratifying the hated Vietnam War. Chicago mayor Richard Daley had warned the protesters not to disrupt his city and denied them permits to assemble, but they came anyway. All afternoon, the protesters chanted and the police hovered, until about 3:30, when someone climbed a flagpole and began lowering the American flag.

Police went to arrest the offender and were pelted with eggs, chunks of concrete and balloons filled with paint and urine. The police responded by charging into the crowd, clubbing bystanders and yelling "Kill! Kill!" in what one report later termed a "police riot." Across the country, Americans watching on television gave their verdict: Serves the damn hippies right. Democrats, who had won seven of the previous nine presidential elections, went on to lose seven of the next 10.

Forty years later, happy liberals mobbed Grant Park, invited by another mayor named Richard Daley, to celebrate Barack Obama's election. This time the flags flew proudly at full mast, and the police were there to protect the crowd, not threaten it. Once again, Americans watched on television, and this time they didn't seethe. They wept.

The distance between those two Grant Park scenes says a lot about how American liberalism fell, and why in the Obama era it could become — once again — America's ruling creed. The coalition that carried Obama to victory is every bit as sturdy as America's last two dominant political coalitions: the ones that elected Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. And the Obama majority is sturdy for one overriding reason: liberalism, which average Americans once associated with upheaval, now promises stability instead.

1M plus possible for Obama inauguration

Murry — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:42:29 EST

LINK | BRETT ZONGKER | Associated Press Writer | Nov. 13

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration is expected to draw 1 million-plus to the capital, and already some lawmakers have stopped taking ticket requests and hotels have booked up.

Some people are bartering on Craigslist for places to stay for the Jan. 20 ceremony when the Illinois senator takes the oath of office. They are offering cash or even help with dishes for residents willing to open up their homes.

The National Park Service, which is planning for an inaugural crowd of at least 1 million, will clear more viewing space along the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route. Jumbo TV screens will line the National Mall so people can watch the inauguration and parade, park service spokesman David Barna said Thursday.

A Documentary About the Obama Campaign Is Drawing Wide Interest

Murry — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:39:25 EST

LINK | BRIAN STELTER | NY Times | Nov. 13

A documentary, more than two years in the making, about President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign is gathering significant interest from international distributors just days after being picked up in the United States by HBO. A team of directors and editors backed by the actor Edward Norton is furiously editing the untitled project.

Given the historic nature of Mr. Obama’s victory and worldwide interest in the presidential race, the film is drawing attention from the BBC and other foreign broadcasters. Since the HBO acquisition was announced, “we’ve had an enormous number of incoming calls from territories all over the world,” said Andrew Hurwitz, an entertainment lawyer who is representing the film along with the talent agency Endeavor.

Behind-the-scenes snapshots of campaigns have become a documentary staple, with “The War Room,” about President Bill Clinton’s 1992 run, and“Journeys With George,” about President Bush’s 2000 race, being two recent examples. The film about Mr. Obama’s 21-month campaign may prove to be an especially big draw overseas.

Obama will resign Senate seat Sunday

Murry — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:55:43 EST

LINK | John McCormick and Rick Pearson | Chicago Tribune | Nov. 13

President-elect Barack Obama said today he will step down from his Senate seat effective this Sunday.

The decision adds to the pressure on Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a fellow Democrat, who under state law has the sole responsibility for naming a successor to Obama, the only African-American in the Senate.

“It has been one of the highest honors and privileges of my life to have served the people of Illinois in the United States Senate," Obama said in a statement today.

"In a state that represents the crossroads of a nation, I have met so many men and women who’ve taken different journeys, but hold common hopes for their children’s future," Obama said. "It is these Illinois families and their stories that will stay with me as I leave the United States Senate and begin the hard task of fulfilling the simple hopes and common dreams of all Americans as our nation’s next President.”

Aides to Obama already had said he would not be returning to Washington to vote on Senate matters this fall, in advance of his being sworn in as the nation’s 44th president Jan. 20. Obama was in Chicago today working on transition matters from the Kluczynski Federal Building in the Loop.

Klain accepts job as Biden chief of staff

Murry — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:49:12 EST

LINK | MIKE ALLEN | Politico | 11/13/08 6:27 AM EST

Ronald A. Klain, former chief of staff and counselor to Vice President Al Gore, has accepted an offer to be chief of staff to Vice President-elect Joe Biden, Democratic officials said.

The position will put Klain, a seasoned political hand, at the heart of West Wing activity.

Biden, who has kept a low profile since Election Day, will head to the vice president’s official residence at the Naval Observatory at 5:15 p.m. Thursday for a private meeting with Vice President Cheney. Biden and his wife, Jill, will also receive a tour of the residence from Cheney and his wife, Lynne.

Americans clamoring for all things Obama

Murry — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:28:08 EST

LINK | Alana Semuels | LA Times | November 12, 2008

Much as Barack Obama has kindled unprecedented interest in presidential politics, so too has he prompted a flood of merchandise, collectibles, television deals and book contracts.

Presidents have always inspired such capitalism. But marketing experts say the historic nature of this election and the strong brand that the Illinois senator's campaign cultivated have sparked incredible demand for all things Obama.

"It's the biggest thing for publishing since Harry Potter," said Dermot McEvoy, a senior editor at Publishers Weekly, an industry trade journal.

The effects of Obamamania are trickling down. Vendors have taken to the streets and the Internet to sell Obama-themed T-shirts, buttons, bobblehead dolls, coffee mugs, wine bottles, magnets, greeting cards, neon signs, mobile phones and framed art prints. Despite worries about the economy, consumers are snapping them up.

"This is phenomenal -- I've never seen anything like it in my life," said Edward Robert El, 64, a street vendor in downtown Los Angeles. He sold more than 3,000 buttons featuring photos of Obama and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

He was selling the buttons, which cost him 80 cents apiece, for $3 on Friday outside the Los Angeles Times, where crowds were lined up seeking copies of the Nov. 5 edition. The Times is one of many newspapers nationwide that sold out their usual press run and are now looking to cash in by selling commemorative copies.

Smithsonian snags items to recreate Obama office

Murry — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:25:01 EST

LINK | BRETT ZONGKER | Associated Press Writer | Nov. 12

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Curators at the Smithsonian Institution wasted no time snapping up souvenirs from President-elect Barack Obama's historic campaign victory and revealed plans Wednesday to recreate one of the campaign's Virginia field offices in a future exhibit.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture, slated to open in 2015 on the National Mall, scooped up items that had been headed for the trash can - such as election maps, strategy boards, campaign literature and even a Lazy Boy chair from Obama's campaign office in Falls Church, Va. - shortly after the election.

A 21-year-old undergraduate from George Washington University ran the office, which focused on reaching a culturally and ethnically diverse range of voters to help elect the first black president. Many of their campaign signs read "Koreans for Obama" and "Latinos for Obama."

"In this very uplifting way, it seemed to be a reflection of the spectrum of people who make up the larger American community," said Jacquelyn Serwer, the museum's chief curator. "We want people, whether you're African American or not, to see yourself in the stories we're telling."

Inspired by Obama, European minorities take action

Murry — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:54:13 EST

LINK | JAMEY KEATEN | Associated Press Writer | Nov. 12

PARIS (AP) -- An Obama effect is rippling across Europe.

In France, a pro-Barack Obama grassroots group created months ago is morphing into a campaign for political diversity. In Britain, a black voter group says it is inundated with calls and attendance is soaring.

In Austria, a Rwandan-born activist has fired off letters to big parties urging them to field minority candidates. And in Germany, the staff of Turkish politician Cem Ozdemir started a Facebook group called "Yes we Cem" - a takeoff on Obama's slogan "Yes we can."

Obama's victory is inspiring hopes and even planting the seeds of action for changing the overwhelming whiteness of Europe's political elite. But it's unclear whether these efforts will pay off or merely fizzle. Although polls showed majorities in nearly every European country favored Obama over John McCain, many say Europe is far from voting for a leader from an ethnic minority itself.

Obama asks bipartisan duo to meet officials at G20

Murry — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:41:50 EST

LINK | Deborah Charles | Reuters | Nov. 12

CHICAGO (Reuters) - President-electBarack Obama on Wednesday named a bipartisan duo of Washington veterans to meet foreign delegations at this weekend's global financial summit, opening communication between the next U.S. administration and its global counterparts.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a Democrat, and former Republican Rep. Jim Leach will be available for unofficial meetings on Obama's behalf at the Washington summit, which Obama himself will not attend, a statement from his office said.

"This weekend's summit is an important opportunity to hear from the leaders of many of the world's largest economies," said Obama's senior foreign policy adviser, Denis McDonough. "President (George W.) Bush should be commended for calling the summit."

Officials from the G-20 group of leading economies will meet in Washington to discuss overhauling the international financial system in response to a credit crisis that threatens global recession.

Podesta Sketches Out Vision For Assertive Presidency

Murry — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:38:06 EST

LINK | Sam Stein | Huffington Post | November 12, 2008 01:04 PM

Before it was clear that Barack Obama would be elected, John Podesta, the current co-chair of the White House transition team, laid out an agenda for the next president that was aggressive, assertive but politically practical.

In excerpts of a book being released in January, "Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint For The 44th President," Podesta describes the need for a chief executive that scores quick and decisive victories while exhibiting respect for Congress and some independence from the early demands of political interest groups.

Writing in sometimes ominous terms about a future Democratic government, he emphasizes that the president-elect must move aggressively on his agenda "regardless of the environment," or face a revolt from voters.

"[I]f the president and his administration do not take the time upfront to develop a clear and coherent blueprint for action -- and find ways to move this agenda regardless of the environment -- then they will quickly find the windows of opportunity shutting before their eyes and will face increased public frustration and disappointment," he writes in the book's introduction.

AP poll: Public seems willing to wait on tax cuts

Murry — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:48:40 EST

LINK | ALAN FRAM and TREVOR TOMPSON | Associated Press Writers | Nov. 12

WASHINGTON (AP) -- People want the tax cuts promised during the presidential campaign, but may be willing to wait while President-elect Obama takes on the larger issue of fixing the economy.

Eighty percent say trimming personal tax rates should be a goal when the new president takes office in January, but only 36 percent say the cuts should a very top priority, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. That was less than half the 84 percent who cited improving the economy as a No. 1 goal, and the 80 percent who said creating jobs should be a paramount task.

"I don't think it's going to work in this instance," said Ryan Anderson, 31, a Democrat from Bloomington, Minn., who thinks tax reductions would have little impact on most families' budgets. "That's kind of like shooting a BB gun at a freight train."

Obama's debt to Howard Dean

Murry — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:51:56 EST

As Dean leaves the helm of the Democratic National Committee, one thing is clear: He got it right with his controversial 50-state strategy.

LINK | Mike Madden | Salon | Nov. 12

WASHINGTON -- When Howard Dean walked in the door at the Democratic National Committee nearly four years ago, the party was in the wilderness and looked ready to stay there for quite some time. George W. Bush had just been reelected and the Republicans had taken control of Congress. Dean got the gig by running an insurgent campaign supported by online activists, and establishment Democrats in Washington were none too happy about it.

When Dean leaves early next year -- he's not seeking a second term -- whoever takes over will probably have it easier. The Democrats now have comfortable majorities in the House and Senate. Dean's "50-state" strategy was essentially vindicated during the presidential election, with Barack Obama investing heavily in, and winning, states such as Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia and Colorado, which all went Republican in previous cycles. And, of course, a Democrat is moving into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a few weeks.

If things had gone the way Dean wanted them to go four years ago, he'd be preparing for his second term as president, not leaving the DNC and waiting to hear if he's getting a Cabinet job. But Democratic insiders say he played a big part in the party's rejuvenation, which came about much faster than anyone would have imagined back in the winter of 2004.

After Breakthrough, Europe Looks in Mirror

Murry — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:29:10 EST

LINK | STEVEN ERLANGER | New York Times | Nov. 12

PARIS — In the general European euphoria over the election of Barack Obama, there is the beginning of self-reflection about Europe’s own troubles with racial integration. Many are asking if there could be a French, British, German or Italian Obama, and everyone knows the answer is no, not anytime soon.

It is risky to make racial comparisons between America and Europe, given all the historical and cultural differences. But race had long been one reason that Europeans, harking back to the days when famous American blacks like Josephine Baker and James Baldwin found solace in France, looked down on the United States, even as Europe developed postcolonial racial problems of its own.

“They always said, ‘You think race relations are bad here in France, check out the U.S.,’ ” said Mohamed Hamidi, former editor of the Bondy Blog, founded after the 2005 riots in the heavily immigrant suburbs of Paris.

“But that argument can no longer stand,” he said.

For many immigrants to Europe, Mr. Obama’s victory is “a small revolution” toward better overall treatment of minorities, said Nadia Azieze, 31, an Algerian-born nurse who grew up here. “It will never be the same,” she said, over a meal of rice and lamb in the racially mixed Paris neighborhood of Barbès-Rochechouart.

Her sister, Cherine, 29, is a computer engineer. Mr. Obama “really represents the dream of America — if you work, you can make it,” she said. “It’s a hope for the entire world.”

What's the Matter With Greenwich?

Murry — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:06:12 EST

Why the rich voted for Obama against their own economic interest.

LINK | Daniel Gross | Slate | Posted Monday, Nov. 10, 2008, at 12:11 PM ET

For several years, I've been writing aboutBushenfreude, the phenomenon of angry yuppies who've hugely benefited from President Bush's tax cuts funding angry, populist Democratic campaigns. I've theorized that people who work in financial services and related fields have become so outraged and alienated by the incompetence, crass social conservatism, and repeated insults to the nation's intelligence of the Bush-era Republican Party that they're voting with their hearts and heads instead of their wallets.

Last week's election was perhaps Bushenfreude's grandest day. As the campaign entered its final weeks, Barack Obama, who pledged to unite the country, singled out one group of people for ridicule: those making more than $250,000. At his rallies, he would ask for a show of hands of those making less than one-quarter of $1 million per year. Then he'd look around, laugh, and note that those in the virtuous majority would get their taxes cut, while the rich among them would be hit with a tax increase. And yet the exit polls show, the rich—and yes, if youmake $250,000 or more you're rich—went for Obama by bigger margins than did the merely well-off. If the exit polls are to be believed, those making $200,000 or more (6 percent of the electorate) voted for Obama 52-46, while McCain won the merely well-off ($100,000 to $150,000 by a 51-48 margin and $150,000 to $200,000 by a 50-48 margin).

Looking Back with Pride, Looking Forward with Hope

Murry — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:30:58 EST

LINK | Madeline Albright | Huffington Post | Nov. 11

Sixty years ago today, a ship carrying my family sailed around the Statue of Liberty into New York harbor. Having fled first Nazism then Communism, we had finally arrived in the United States. Aside from the birth dates of my children, it was the most important day of my life.

The America in which I grew up was known as a champion of international law, a builder of strong alliances, a defender of freedom, and an inspiration to those forced to live behind the Iron Curtain. Americans have good reason to look back with pride.

Last Tuesday, we were given good reason to look forward with hope.

There is a promise in Senator Obama's election that goes beyond any explicit pledge made during the campaign. That potential may be found in the reaffirmation of America's identity as a true land of opportunity and in the confounding of damaging assumptions about our country that have spread unchecked across the globe these past eight years.

Obama wants auto industry reformer

Murry — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:17:46 EST

LINK | Carrie Budoff Brown | Politico | November 11, 2008 03:00 PM EST

President-elect Barack Obama wants a high-profile point person to oversee reforms in the ailing auto industry, according to members of Obama’s transition team.

Specifics about the proposal remain unclear. But the transition team says Obama suggested to President Bush on Monday that aid to the auto industry could be coupled with the appointment of “someone in charge of the auto issue who would have the authority” to push for reforms. The details came from a more extended readout of the White House meeting provided Tuesday.

The person would assist in efforts to create an “economically viable auto industry,” a transition aide said – a move that could alleviate concerns about protecting taxpayer interests if more money is directed to assist automakers.

The financially reeling American auto industry has emerged as a top issue facing Obama and Bush as they work through the two-month transition period, and for Congress as it plans to convene next week for a lame duck session.

Poll finds most Americans welcome Dem control

Murry — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:43:43 EST

LINK | CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser | Nov. 11

WASHINGTON (CNN) — It was one of John McCain's closing arguments: "We're getting a glimpse of what one-party rule would look like under Obama, Pelosi, and Reid. Apparently it starts with lowering our defenses and raising our taxes," the Republican presidential nominee said repeatedly on the campaign trail in the final weeks leading up to Election Day.

But a new national poll suggests why a majority of voters didn't seem to buy that argument, as Barack Obama beat McCain in the presidential election and the Democrats made major gains in both the House, under Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate, under Majority Leader Harry Reid.

In the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Tuesday, 59 percent of those questioned said Democratic control of both the executive and legislative branches will be good for the country, compared with 38 percent saying such one-party control will be bad.

Obama's Transition Team Will Employ 450, Have $12 Million Budget

Murry — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:28:02 EST

LINK | Sam Stein | Huffington Post | November 11, 2008 02:28 PM

At a briefing before well over 1000 reporters, John Podesta, the co-chair of Barack Obama's White House transition, announced three priorities for the interim period and laid out just how comprehensive the effort would be.

The transition team will operate off a budget of $12 million ($5.2 million has been appropriated by Congress, the rest will be raised separately through individual donations of under $5,000), employ 450 people and operate out of offices in Washington D.C. and Chicago. Already, Podesta reiterated, the team has granted 100 interim security clearances.

Most in AP poll confident Obama will fix economy

Murry — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:19:24 EST

LINK | AP | Nov. 11

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In one of the economy's darkest hours in decades, it looks as if people are taking Barack Obama up on his exhortations for hope and change. Seven in 10, or 72 percent, voice confidence the president-elect will make the changes needed to revive the stalling economy, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll released Tuesday.

Underscoring how widely the public is counting on its new leader, 44 percent of Republicans joined nearly all Democrats and most independents in expressing that belief.

The poll shows that faith in Obama is even broader, at least for now. Sixty-eight percent said they think that when he takes office in January, the new president will be able to enact the policies he pushed during his presidential campaign.

People signaled a willingness to wait on one of the keynote items of his agenda - tax cuts. Only about one in three, or 36 percent, said they wanted Obama to make income-tax cuts a top priority when he takes office, and even fewer wanted higher taxes on the rich to be a primary goal.

Under Obama, Web Would Be the Way

Murry — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:21:26 EST

Unprecedented Online Outreach Expected

LINK | Shailagh Murray and Matthew Mosk | Washington Post Staff Writers | Monday, November 10, 2008; A02

CHICAGO -- Armed with millions of e-mail addresses and a political operation that harnessed the Internet like no campaign before it, Barack Obama will enter the White House with the opportunity to create the first truly "wired" presidency.

Obama aides and allies are preparing a major expansion of the White House communications operation, enabling them to reach out directly to the supporters they have collected over 21 months without having to go through the mainstream media.

Just as John F. Kennedy mastered television as a medium for taking his message to the public, Obama is poised to transform the art of political communication once again, said Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist who first helped integrate the Internet into campaigning four years ago.

"He's going to be the first president to be connected in this way, directly, with millions of Americans," Trippi said.

The nucleus of that effort is an e-mail database of more than 10 million supporters. The list is considered so valuable that the Obama camp briefly offered it as collateral during a cash-flow crunch late in the campaign, though it wound up never needing the loan, senior aides said. At least 3.1 million people on the list donated money to Obama.

Millions more made up the volunteer corps that organized his enormous rallies, registered millions of voters and held countless gatherings to plug the senator to friends and neighbors. On Election Day, they served as the backbone of Obama's get-out-the-vote operation, reaching voters by phone and at the front door, serving coffee at polling stations and babysitting so parents could stand in line at voting precincts.

After Obama declared victory, his campaign sent a text message announcing that his supporters hadn't heard the last from the president-elect. Obama conveyed a similar message to his staff in a campaignwide conference call Wednesday, signaling that his election was the beginning, and not the culmination, of a political movement.

Accordingly, the president-elect's http://www.change.gov transition Web site features a blog and a suggestion form, signaling the kinds of direct and instantaneous interaction that the Obama administration will encourage, perhaps with an eye toward turning its following into the biggest special-interest group in Washington.

White House to Establish Office of Urban Policy

Murry — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:55:53 EST

LINK | Al Kamen | Washington Post | Nov. 10

The intense back-stabbing amongst Democrats for top jobs in the Obama administration assumes there are a fixed number of jobs worth having. But it's looking likely that some extremely choice, even consequential, jobs are going to be created by the new administration.

For example, plans are underway to establish a White House Office of Urban Policy in order to better coordinate federal efforts to help America's cities, according to Obama transition co-chair Valerie Jarrett.

"He's going to have a White House chief of urban policy," Jarrett told the Trotter Group, an organization of black columnists.

She declined to divulge any names of potential choices for the post. "I'm sure there are plenty of candidates. It's a great job," Jarrett said.

Despite the many national problems confronting the new administration, she continued, Obama remains committed to earlier pledges to establish such an office. "Because he began as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, he understands at the local level is really where you can impact change and that local government can play a vital role as we try to jump start our economy," she said. "So having somebody in the White House, because there are so many different agencies that really can impact urban America and to have one person whose job it is to really pull all of that together, is really a critical position. And there are plenty of terrific candidates for that spot."

Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know

Murry — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:43:10 EST

Fifty things you might not know about Barack Obama

LINK | Jon Swaine | Telegraph.co.uk | Last Updated: 10:58AM GMT 10 Nov 2008

• He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics

• He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at basketball

• His name means "one who is blessed" in Swahili

• His favourite meal is wife Michelle's shrimp linguini

• He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father

• He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed

• He has read every Harry Potter book [to Malia]

• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali

Obama Wins

Murry — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:35:58 EST

LINK | Hendrik Hertzberg | The New Yorker | Nov. 17

At the Times, it is house style to refer to a successful Presidential nominee by his full name in the lead of the main story the morning after the election. He may be Bill or Jimmy on his campaign posters, but in the newspaper of record on that one momentous occasion he is William Jefferson or James Earl, Jr. So say it loud and say it proud: Barack Hussein Obama, President-elect of the United States. Of the United States of America, as he himself liked to say on the stump—always, it seemed, with a touch of awe at the grandeur and improbability of it all.

Barack Hussein Obama: last week, sixty-five million Americans turned a liability—a moniker so politically inflammatory that the full recitation of it was considered foul play—into a global diplomatic asset, a symbol of the resurgence of America’s ability to astonish and inspire. In the Convention keynote speech that made him instantly famous four years ago, Obama called himself “a skinny kid with a funny name.” Funny? Not really. “Millard Fillmore”—now, that’s funny. The Times contented itself with referring to the candidate’s “unusual name.” Unusual? Unusual would be, say, “Dwight D. Eisenhower.” Ten weeks from now, the President of the United States will be a person whose first name is a Swahili word derived from the Arabic (it means “blessing”), whose middle name is that not only of a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad but also of the original target of an ongoing American war, and whose last name rhymes nicely with “Osama.” That’s not a name, it’s a catastrophe, at least in American politics. Or ought to have been.

Yet Barack Obama won, and won big. Democrats have now achieved pluralities in four of the last five Presidential elections. But Obama’s popular vote was an outright majority—a little more than fifty-two per cent, at the latest reckoning—and the largest share for a nominee of his party since Lyndon Johnson’s in 1964. Obama made significant gains compared with John Kerry, four years ago, in nearly every category that exit polls record: black folks but also white folks; liberals but also conservatives; women but also men. His gains were especially striking among Latinos, the very poor and the very well-off, Catholics and the unchurched, and the two groups most likely to be concerned about the future—young people and the parents of children living at home. And although the Obama wave does not seem to have brought with it a filibuster-proof Senate, it did sweep into office enough new members of both houses of Congress to offer him the hope of a governing legislative majority.

Obamaism

Murry — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:26:47 EST

It’s a kind of religion. But one rooted in a deep faith in rationality. Last week, New York rejoiced in its promise. And sang the National Anthem in the streets.

LINK | Kurt Andersen | New York Magazine | Published Nov 9, 2008

When we were growing up, the future was the 21st century, and the future was going to astonish us.

And so it has, eight years in, and not just with whiz-bang gadgets. We were astonished by the attacks of September 11. By the administration’s bungling of the Iraq War. By Hurricane Katrina’s scale of destruction and the administration’s incompetent response. By the realization that global warming is possibly out of control. By the teetering of the global financial system.

Yet none of the 21st century’s OMFG events has been any more astonishing than what happened last week. Not just a Democratic president, but one elected with the third largest majority of any Democrat in the past one hundred years; not just a resoundingly victorious Democrat who lacks (for the first time since most voters were born) a southern accent, but who nevertheless won three southern states; not just a big-city northern Democrat whose name recognition was close to zero 1,500 days ago, but an eloquent Ivy League intellectual; and, of course, not just an unknown smooth-talking pointy-headed neoliberal with an exotic upbringing, but, yes, an African-American.

For those of us born since World War II, never in our adult lifetimes (as the next First Lady undoubtedly meant to say last winter) has any single event made us prouder of our country—and for those of us who live in this city, never have we felt more completely in sync with it. We’re all Dorothy, stunned at having just stepped out—tripped out, one might even say—from a half-wrecked black-and-white reality into a strange and glorious new Technicolor world.

Moreover, for a lot of habitually skeptical, worrywartish New Yorkers, the thrill of victory is especially intense because we’d refused to indulge even a moment of premature celebration. Until late Tuesday night we couldn’t stop vividly, obsessively imagining the final (astonishing) agony of defeat. In fact, our local predisposition to faux-professional insiderism was enabled by this year’s unprecedented amount of public-polling data on the Web, all of which served to make us more nervous rather than less. Call it the anxiety of hope. And so for the last few days we have been experiencing not only the normal pleasures of virtue and our side’s triumphing, but also relief from the self-imposed pain of our variously hardwired Catholic, Jewish, African-American, or Charlie Brownian dread.

In other words, we denied ourselves irrational exuberance until the deed was finally done. And indeed, while his election will first and forever be understood as a fantastic moment in the history of racial progress—and the triumph of unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo, blah-ba-de blah blah blah—it was also a rejection of ad hominem assertion, atavistic demagoguery, make-believe innuendo, and the fervently ideological. Even-keeled cool beat splenetic fear and confusion. Reason won.

Obama plans aggressive timetable, agenda

Murry — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:56:26 EST

LINK | Mike Allen | Politico | November 10, 2008 04:05 PM EST

President-elect Obama plans a quick, aggressive start to his presidency by filling several Cabinet jobs in the next three weeks and by presenting Congress with a broad agenda, according to advisers.

While most presidents-elect have waited until December to fill Cabinet jobs, Obama will name several before the end of November, according to aides.

Aides say no Cabinet picks will be named this week, although Obama may make some more White House staff announcements toward the end of the week. One of the first will be Robert Gibbs as White House press secretary. Obama also plans to name his White House counsel early in the process, advisers said.

Obama plans to challenge Congress to begin work on all four of his top four priorities — the economy, energy, health care and education, billing them all as “reforms” that will help struggling middle-class families.

Obama and Bush: A Contrast in Popularity

Murry — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:15:27 EST

Transition marked by sharp divergence in leaders’ ratings

LINK | Lydia Saad | Gallup | Nov. 10

PRINCETON, NJ -- Monday's White House meeting between President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama presents a remarkable contrast between one of the least popular two-term presidents in modern times at the close of his administration, and one of the most popular candidates to win the presidency.

According to Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Nov. 6-8, only 27% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing as president. This contrasts with the 70% of Americans holding a favorable view of Obama.

Biden's new role: Good cop

Murry — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:57:30 EST

LINK | Glenn Thrush | Politico | November 10, 2008 01:47 PM EST

A few days before the election, a Democratic strategist privately worried that a Vice-President Joe Biden was destined for a White House career of dissatisfaction and idle-hands mischief.

“You can’t just have a guy like him at loose ends, he’d go crazy,” said a Democratic consultant who knows the affable, bright and mercilessly quotable soon-to-be ex-chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. “They need to keep him busy. Nobody over there wants him getting into the Secretary of State’s [business].”

Harnessing Biden’s considerable talents and containing his flaws will be an ongoing challenge for Obama. But Democratic insiders say the appointment of tough-guy Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff—and the administration’s need to forge a governing coalition that includes some Republicans—has brought Biden’s upcoming role more clearly into focus: He'll play the good cop.

The Democrats’ apparent failure to win the 60 Senate seats necessary to halt a GOP filibuster has created the need for inter-party ambassadors like Biden who are practiced at the art of aisle crossing. In his 36-year Senate career, Biden was never considered a bomb-throwing ideologue, and he still has plenty of chits to cash in with Republicans on the Hill.

“He’s probably got more friends among Senate Republicans than John McCain does, and that’s a huge plus for Barack Obama, who is committed to breaking the partisan roadblock of recent years,” said Biden spokesman David Wade shortly before Election Day.

And while Emanuel’s bad-cop reputation may be overstated, all those F-bombs and threats to pulverize GOP incumbents during his tenure of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee boss create an opening for Biden, who maxes out on the Mr. Nice Guy scale.

Dean Prepares To Step Down As DNC Chair

Murry — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:42:33 EST

LINK | Sam Stein | Huffington Post | Nov. 10

After four years at the helm of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean is preparing to relinquish his chairmanship.

Dean, who has been serving in the post since 2005, has said in the past that he would serve only one term, though his successful work with the Obama campaign had led some Democrats to wonder whether he would stay on into the next administration. This won't be the case, officials at the DNC confirm. He will serve as chair until his term ends in January. The party will settle on a new head when it hosts a meeting during the week of Obama's inauguration.

Obama planning US trials for Guantanamo detainees

Murry — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:55:14 EST

LINK | The Associated Press | Monday, November 10, 2008

WASHINGTON: President-elect Barack Obama's advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials, a plan that would make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but could require creation of a controversial new system of justice.

During his campaign, Obama described Guantanamo as a "sad chapter in American history" and has said generally that the U.S. legal system is equipped to handle the detainees. But he has offered few details on what he planned to do once the facility is closed.

Under plans being put together in Obama's camp, some detainees would be released and many others would be prosecuted in U.S. criminal courts.

A third group of detainees — the ones whose cases are most entangled in highly classified information — might have to go before a new court designed especially to handle sensitive national security cases, according to advisers and Democrats involved in the talks. Advisers participating directly in the planning spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans are not final.

Democrats set sights on Texas

Murry — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:43:14 EST

Some believe Latinos can help change the state from red to blue.

LINK | Peter Wallsten | LA Times | November 9, 2008

Reporting from Washington -- As they review the results of Tuesday's election victories and begin looking toward future campaigns, some Democrats have settled on a rallying cry: Texas is next.

It sounds improbable for the Republican bastion that produced President Bush and served as an early laboratory for Karl Rove's hard-nosed tactics. But Texas is one of several reliably red states that are now in Democrats' sights as party strategists begin to analyze a victorious 2008 campaign that they believe showed the contours of a new movement that could grow and prove long-lasting. A multiethnic bloc of Latinos, blacks, young people and suburban whites helped to broaden the party's reach Tuesday well beyond its traditional base in the Northeast and the West Coast -- carrying Barack Obama into the White House and expanding the party's majorities in Congress.

That new formula was evident in state exit polls and county-level election results showing that Democrats scored gains from a voting base that is growing progressively less white than the population that helped forge Republican advantages in past elections. In state after state, from GOP strongholds like North Carolina, Indiana and Colorado, minorities made up a larger share of the vote than in the past, and in each case they helped turn states from red to blue.

Battle Plans

Murry — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:34:46 EST

LINK | Ryan Lizza | The New Yorker | NOVEMBER 17, 2008

Last June, Joel Benenson, who was Barack Obama’s top pollster during his Presidential run, reported on the state of the campaign. His conclusions, summed up in a sixty-slide PowerPoint presentation, were revealed to a small group, including David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist, and several media consultants, and, as it turned out, some of this research helped guide the campaign through the general election. The primaries were over, Hillary Clinton had conceded, and Obama had begun planning for a race against Senator John McCain.

There was good news and bad in Benenson’s presentation. Obama led John McCain, forty-nine per cent to forty-four per cent, among the voters most likely to go to the polls in November, but there was also a large group of what Benenson called “up-for-grabs” voters, or U.F.G.s, who favored McCain, forty-eight per cent to thirty-six per cent. The U.F.G.s were the key to the outcome; if the election had been held then, Obama would have probably lost.

Benenson, who is fifty-six, is bearded and volatile. He speaks with a New York accent, and in the movie version of the Obama campaign he might be played by Richard Lewis. He is considered the star pollster in the Democratic Party. Like several of Obama’s other top advisers—David Axelrod; Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois congressman who is his new chief of staff; Bill Burton, the campaign’s national press secretary—Benenson was deeply involved in helping Democrats win in the 2006 midterm elections, an experience that put the Obama team more in touch with the mood of the electorate going into 2008. (The top strategists for Clinton and McCain had not been involved in difficult races in 2006.)

The data from Benenson’s June presentation contained some reasons to be optimistic. The conventional wisdom was that Obama, as the newest of the candidates, had an image that was malleable and thus highly vulnerable to negative attacks. But that was not what the polling showed. As the presentation explained, “Obama’s image is considerably better defined than McCain’s, even on attributes at the core of McCain’s reputation,” such as “stands up to lobbyists and special interests,” “puts partisan politics aside to get things done,” and “tells people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.”

Obama transition as web savvy as campaign

Murry — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:40:22 EST

LINK CAROL E. LEE | Politico | 11/8/08 5:20 PM EST

In keeping with his campaign's use of the Internet to create a vast network and raise unprecedented sums of money, President-elect Barack Obama is using a website to usher his supporters through the transition: change.gov.

Visitors to the "Office of the President-Elect," as the site is called, can share their ideas for running the country and apply for jobs with the Obama transition and administration.

The site went up on Nov. 5, the day after the election, and Obama campaign staff and volunteers, many of whom have been working full-time for the campaign for the past two years, and others seeking work with the administration immediately began logging on to apply for jobs.

The site advises that applying online is the fastest way to get a position. Applicants are told that if they fill out a short form with their name, location and most recent employer, they will get an email in a few days with a more lengthy online application.

Obama to use executive orders for immediate impact

Murry — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:29:50 EST

LINK | STEPHEN OHLEMACHER | Associated Press Writer | Nov. 9

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas.

John Podesta, Obama's transition chief, said Sunday Obama is reviewing President Bush's executive orders on those issues and others as he works to undo policies enacted during eight years of Republican rule. He said the president can use such orders to move quickly on his own.

"There's a lot that the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we'll see the president do that," Podesta said. "I think that he feels like he has a real mandate for change. We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set."